Bug Catching Conspiracy
by hotdogfish
Summary: Some people say that the Johto Bug Catching Contest is a scam. Some say that the judges are bribed. Some say it's by those snot-nosed ten year olds that enter three times a week. Sometimes you find a rare pokemon, and sometimes it gets away. Based on real events in my Gold game.
1. Chapter 1

It was a Tuesday, some time in late May. I was at the National Park, ready to enter the Bug Catching Contest and win myself a sun stone. I didn't have any pokemon that could evolve with it, nor did I really plan on catching one of them. It didn't matter, though, it was a free evolutionary stone! Even if I never used the stone, then I could sell it easily enough, or trade it for a different one.

I had all day to catch my bug, but by noon all I'd seen were small fry: caterpie, kakuna, paras, and so on. My plan was to get a scyther, then eventually evolve it into a scizor; apart from a dual weakness to fire attacks, it had no weaknesses and a lot of resistances. Better yet, scyther were strong and rare and would be sure to win me the contest, but I hadn't seen any sign of one yet, nor of a pinsir either, which would be a second choice, but I'd still take it.

My pidgeotto, however, was having the time of his life. For a start, he had only been a pidgey this morning. It was just as well he'd evolved too, the almost constant battles would have worn him down as a pidgey, but he was still rearing to go as a pidgeotto.

It was almost two in the afternoon when I saw it; the pokemon that would win me the contest. It wasn't a scyther, or a pinsir. It wasn't even a venomoth, a butterfree, or a beedrill. It was actually a metapod. Yep, just a regular, two feet tall, pointy nosed, golden-orange metapod. I'd heard stories about the regular contestants winning the majority of the contests, even with weak and common pokemon, but no one could deny that a shiny, even a shiny metapod, was the best bug out here.

All I had to do was convince my pidgeotto to only rough it up a little, instead of a lot. I expected to have to fight with him over the force he used, but I think the colour must have confused him. He flit around it, only getting close to strike it, before darting away again. Usually, he literally stood on top of them and pecked them until they died and he could eat it.

When it started wobbling on its tail, I started pulling stuff out of my pockets to find my park balls. I finally found one, in a pocket I'm sure I didn't put them in, and, grasping it in my hand, turned back to the metapod, it find it gone.

I spun around to find my pidgeotto, thinking he'd grabbed it and carried it off, but his claws were empty. I scanned the grass again, it was metapod-less. I ran to the closest bush. Empty.

I checked the nearest trees. Nothing.

My pidgeotto and I searched for about three hours for that metapod, catching a scyther along the way, but we didn't find it again. I didn't understand it, and I still don't. Metapod are really slow, and that one was injured; between the two of us it shouldn't have been able to get away, never mind hide from us.

I finished the contest with the scyther, confident that, even without the shiny metapod, I should win.

I came in third. Second place went to a kakuna, and first was given to a caterpie.

Suddenly, those rumors about the corrupt judges didn't seems so crazy.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: This was only gonna be a one-shot, then I remembered the other shiny I found in a different gold run. Tweaked it a little so that it made a better story, but that's it.

* * *

I was going to try again.

I wasn't sure why I bothered.

I was sure the judges would be just as corrupt as ever, but, well, I was still close enough to the park to enter and, if nothing else, it was really good experience for my pokemon.

This time, I didn't bring my pidgeotto, I had my quilava instead. She was less hyper than my pidgeotto, but she still had a type advantage against the bugs. If I found another shiny, though I laughed at the thought, at the very least she would be able to follow its scent if it ran away.

Humans, as everyone knows, have a rubbish sense of smell compared to most mammals. Birds, as everyone apparently doesn't know, tend to have an even worse sense of smell than humans. Quilava, however, spend their entire lives sniffing out bugs.

The down side to bringing my quilava, I soon discovered, was that she would keep ditching me to uncover bugs to eat. Bugs that I might want to catch. After an hour of watching her devour a weedle, a metapod, a whole little group of four caterpie, and even a pinsir, she was returned to her ball to be released only during her fights.

The problem, I think, was that she was too strong, too type effective, and too hungry for a bug catching contest. A grass, or flying catching contest, I think she would have been fine, but she loved eating the bugs too much.

An hour later, I knew the decision was the right one when I found a venonat. They were pretty rare, though nowhere near the strongest in here, but venomoth were pretty awesome. Better yet, it was still alive!

I sent my quilava back out with a shrieked "USE SCRATCH!"

I didn't want her thinking she was allowed to eat this one, and sometimes subtlety was not the answer.

She scratched it, deeper than I would have liked, but it was just one scratch and it was still standing. It wasn't bleeding much and wasn't even wobbling either. I threw a park ball at it before she could even think about making another attack.

To my surprise, I caught it on the first try. Sweet.

I decided to let my quilava stay out for the rest of the day. She would get more exercise and even if she ate every single bug between now and the end of the contest, though she'd probably explode if she ate all of them, I would still walk away a decent pokemon. All it meant was that I wouldn't have to feed her that evening.

It was at the end of the contest when we saw it. My new venonat was riding on my shoulder, and my quilava was more or less walking next to me.

She sniffed another paras out of a bush, and even waited for permission before attacking it. I gave her it with a wave of my hand and she gleefully pounced on it. With her killing blow, she bounced it into a small patch of sunlight, which gleamed off bronze, not orange, scales.

I was horrified. Again. The pokemon I'd chosen, specifically so that she could track down any rare pokemon, killed a shiny. The second shiny I'd found in as many days.

I recalled my quilava, buried the paras, and returned to the park entrance.

I came in first with my venonat, beating a pinsir and a butterfree.

I have decided that the judges are not corrupt, they are ill. Very ill, and likely treating themselves with "medicinal" plants they find in the forest. Yeah, that makes a lot more sense.


End file.
